


Eric x reader (I don't have a title yet lmao)

by Cohmcarden



Category: Divergent (Movies), Divergent - All Media Types
Genre: Eric is hotter than four and thats on that, Eric x reader fluff, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Smut, Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Tension, and is Dauntless bc obviously, reader is kinda divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:54:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28776375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cohmcarden/pseuds/Cohmcarden
Summary: okaaayyyyy so thoughts?? obviously I'm gonna start writing all the good shit in the next chapter but so far
Relationships: Eric - Relationship, Eric x reader - Relationship, Eric x y/n, Eric/Reader, X Reader - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	Eric x reader (I don't have a title yet lmao)

You sat next to your parents, looking down into your lap, the navy blue fabric that covered your legs serving as a riveting distraction from the chattering crowds around you. The sound of your friends and their families talking surrounded you, hearing that they’d already come to a decision, a judgement about where they belonged and who they were, put you on edge, not least because most of them were going their separate ways. 

You were Erudite, at least for now; The Intelligent, as you were labelled. Your parents certainly belonged there, sometimes when they spoke you didn't even understand the words coming out of their mouths, you weren’t even sure if they were words, or maybe some made up language to make you feel stupid. It wasn't like you weren't smart, in fact you were one of the best problem-solvers in your family, it just wasn't where you wanted to stay, you knew that much. 

“Darling?” You looked up, your mother peeking pointenantly at you. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Well,” She clapped her hands together, her nerves obvious through the smooth sound she made when she rubbed her sweaty palms together. “What are you going to do? You’ve kept it secret from us this long.” She chuckled nervously. 

“Yeah, c’mon kid,” Your father chimed in. “I need an apprentice.”

You chuckled, not sure what to say. You really didn’t know what to do. Even the test didn’t tell you: After you took it the woman who administered it went quiet, and she looked pale as a corpse. The only thing she said to you was ‘Two. Erudite and Dauntless.’ before rushing you out of the room, her hands shaking. You weren't sure what that meant for you, but at this moment it served as an inconvenience more than anything.

You lifted your head, glancing around for a second; the people around you, your friends, the people you grew up with, the people that you knew, they were comfortable, easy. You flicked your eyes over to the group a few rows to your left; the Dauntless crowd, decked in black and heaving with cheer, a welcomed contrast to the civil conversation of your own faction. 

You had been given two options: The comfort of the familiar or the excitement of the unknown. 

You turned to your mother, smiling apologetically, as if already expecting her rejection. “Well, I-”

“The faction system is a living being, composed of cells:” A strong voice came from the front of the crowd, a proud blonde woman addressing the audience.

Your mother shushed you, squeezing your hand with what she intended to be reassurance, but what turned into a feeling of entrapment that boiled in your bones as you listened.

“All of you. And the only way it can survive and thrive is if each of you take your rightful place. The future belongs to those who know where they belong.” She announced, surveying the crowd one last time with a spark of something sinister dashed in her eye, before walking off stage, the echoing clack of her heels bouncing off the walls as she exited.

After her came a man, who you understood to be very high ranking in the government: Marcus. He was tall, dressed head-to-toe in the usual belak grey that was awarded to every Abnegation. He stood with his hands clasped together as he spoke. “When we leave this room you will no longer be dependants, but full fledged members of our society.” He paused for what you assumed was dramatic effect. “Faction before blood.” 

And like the ‘living being’ that the one before he described it as, the crowd spun back to him his words. “Faction before blood.” 

You let your vision get away with your thoughts as you heard the man in front of you start rattling off names. You watched as people--some that you knew, most that you didn’t--walked up to the podium, put the blade to their palm and made their choice. You envied the certainty that you saw in some of the decisions, and found a strange solace in the lack of certainty in the others, though nothing eased the deep rumbling fear that rooted itself to the lining of your stomach. What if you made the wrong choice? What if you couldn't make a choice? What if you made the right choice for you, but only for you?

Suddenly your mind went blank as your name was called, and you felt every pair of eyes in that room lock onto you. 

You stood up, making your way out of the aisle and down the stairs, staring at your feet as you concentrated on not tripping, anything to further procrastinate the decision you had to make. 

And then you were there.

And time was up.

You picked up the knife, dragging it blade down across the side of your palm. You barely felt the pain, your mind set completely on the five bowls in front of you: Each represented a faction,  Abnegation,  Amity ,  Candor ,  Dauntless , and Erudite. You recognised each symbol carved into the inside wall of the white stone, staring you down, egging you on. 

You held your hand over the selection, a drop of fresh, hot blood slowly trickling down your hand: and the timer was set. You flicked your eyes between two bowls, Erudite, Dauntless. Back and forth. The blood gathered, more and more.

And then it fell. 

You heard the sizzle as the liquid fried on the hot coal in the bowl, resting your eyes on the Dauntless symbol before you heard an eruption of cheer from the group on the far left.

Grabbing a plaster from the table you turned round, looking towards your parents as you made your way to Dauntless. You saw the look on your mothers face, disappointed but also proud, there were tears in her eyes but they weren't from sadness.

And then you looked at your father, and all you saw was the stone cold anger that chiseled out his face like a mountain. 

You looked away, turning your attention to the crowd in front of you. A boy in the front row stood up, giving you his seat as he passed you, patton you on the shoulder and shooting you a welcoming smile. There were so many spurred ‘welcome’s and ‘fuck yeah’s that the regret that youd been expecting to dampen your spirit was nowhere to be found.

  
  


After the ceremony had finished you followed the rest of your new faction out of the doors, the adrenaline from the panic making for an amazingly exciting high as your legs ran, leaving you to admire the feeling. You followed the rest as they bounded up to the steel train tracks, scaling up them with seemingly no effort. You watched in awe for a second before following them, grabbing onto the cold metal structure and doing your best not to fall and break your back as you climbed. 

You caught your breath at the top with the rest of the crowd, throwing your head back as you breathed. 

Suddenly you heard the clattering of a train approaching, looking to your left just in time to see a train race past you. You stepped back for a second, slightly scared, but pushed it aside, looking to your right as you realised that everyone else was running alongside it. You followed, catching up and watching one by one everyone jump on. 

You were lagging a little, despite running as fast as physically possible, and there was no way that you could reach the doorway. Shit.

“C’mon!” You heard, looking up to see a girl hanging her hand out of the train, reaching for you. You jumped forward, grabbing her hand as she pulled you inside.

You both collapsed on the floor as you caught your breath, the who train carriage quiet with the excited disbelieve that thrived in the atmosphere. You caught eyes with the girl that helped you, both of you laughing at the situation. 

“I’m Christina.” She said, leaning her elbows on her knees. “And this is Beatrice.” She turned and smiled at the girl sat to her left. Examining her drab clothing you concluded that she was from Abnegation, and from Christina's spotless garments she was definitely from Cander.

“Hi.” You said, introducing yourself. You were about to say something else, when you heard someone behind you shout something. 

“Get ready!” 

You stood up, peering around and seeing that everyone was keenly looking out of the doorways. You followed their eyes, hanging slightly out of the train and looking forward, seeing a few people leaping from the carriages and onto the rooftops opposite.

Shit.

Your carriage was fast approaching a rooftop, but the gap between it and you was a sure death, and if not that a very painful life.

You heard someone behind you ask what would happen if you didn't jump.

One word. “Factionless.” 

That was enough to spur you on. 

The train raced past the rooftop, and a few people next to you leapt immediately. You watched as they crash-landed on the gravel opposite you, appearing a little scratched up but all together unharmed.

You backed up, waiting for the second rooftop to pass, giving yourself a decent time frame to jump. 

And then you jumped.

For a second, the looming depth of the chasm under you was no longer a concern, as you flew over it, landing in your side on the floor. You scraped along it, rolling to a stop in the stones.

Unharmed you stood up, brushing a few rogue pebbles off of your formerly clean clothes and followed the rest of the crowd, who were all pooling together round a figure.

Once everyone was there the figure jumped up onto the ledge in front of the group.

“Alright, listen up! I’m Eric, one of your leaders. If you wanna enter Dauntless this is the way in.” You watched him -- he carried himself stoically, with broad shoulders and a stiff expression, he was obviously very used to training. There were markings running up the sides of his neck, tattoos probably but you couldn't really tell. 

He peered down behind him, past the ledge, where you assumed there was some sort of staircase or doorway into the Dauntless area. You’d just have to see. 

“And if you don’t have the guts to jump, then you don't belong in Dauntless.”

_ Jump? _ That scared you, but not as much as it intrigued you. There was obviously something below that saved you: water, a net, people maybe? So why would anybody not jump? 

A boy next to you piped up, springin his head up in response to Eric. “Is there water at the bottom or something?” He asked, obviously slightly worried.

You, and everyone else, waited for his response. “Guess you’ll find out.” His tone was laced with malice, intended to scare people away, a tactic to weed out those who didn’t really belong there; smart. “Or not.”

You studied the man in front of you, and his unwavering expression, as he surveyed the crowd, his eyes for a second meeting yours. You could’ve sworn that they lingered, but you knew that time played tricks, and besides, why would he take any interest in you above the others? You were nothing particularly special.

“Well, someones gotta go first,” He said hastily, with the same tone of impatience that told you that he was familiar with this type of setting. “Who’s it gonna be?”

Silence.

You looked around, as did everybody, as they tried to identify the outlier in the pack. Still silence, and no one looked anywhere near ready to stand out. You took a deep breath in before speaking, making sure that you sounded confident, nonchalant even; first impressions count.

“I will.”

The crowd turned around to see who may have just doomed themselves to death by willingly plunging themselves into a pit of darkness. 

You pushed back your shoulders, keeping your face as blank as you could make it and walked forward. Eric dropped down, observing you closely as you passed him. 

You put your hands on the ledge, pushing yourself up onto it and standing up straight. Despite your best efforts to remain calm in the knowledge that there was more than likely something in the deep dark abyss that would catch you, you were still frightened, and couldn't help but hesitate. 

You grazed the front of your boot against the edge, entertaining the idea that you could just step back down, but no, you'd rather fall to your death than be resigned to one of the factionless simply because you refused to take part in a simple initiation test.

You breathed: In -- out -- in -- out -- and then you jumped.

You could hear the low fluttering of the fabric on your clothes as you fell, your insides being twisted into an origami butterfly as your body plummeted downwards. For a second you let yourself believe that there was nothing down there; that the darkness was just darkness and you were going to die. 

But then it caught you, throwing you back up into the air with the recoil. 

Safety net, of course.

You rolled to the side, sliding off the slide and waiting with who you assumed to be other leaders as the rest of the group threw themselves down, one by one. 

Once everyone was down you were greeted by ‘Four’, an unusual name you had to admit, but you thought it was cool. He slit you up into Dauntless-born, and transfers, which was you.

After the brief and somewhat unorthodox introduction you were led down a steel spiral staircase, illuminated with a dim, red light.

“Kinda gloomy here.” Christina half-whispered to you, suddenly appearing behind you. 

“I dunno, it seems…” You paused, trying to think of the right phrasing. “Moody.”

The tunnels were rigid stone, illuminated by dim turquoise strip-lights along the top of the walls, and they could carry and echo for miles. This was evident as you were shown to ‘The Pit’, where you could see a sizable congregation of people, sparring, stalking, flirting--just living. The static bizz of the talk that roze off it caked the tunnel walls in reflection of conversation, which you were certain that it would be near impossible to avoid here. You didn’t mind though, the quiet was always a little too lonely for you.

You were taken into a large room, intermittently held up with stone pillars that kept the individual beds that scatter the floor company. “You’re gonna be sleeping here for the next ten weeks.” Your tour guide Four called out. “And if you like this you're gonna love the bathroom.” He added, taking you through to what looked like a communal bathroom.

_ No privacy. Fantastic. _

He left the group, calling back as he stormed out. “Get changed.” What a warm welcome.

You looked around for a bed, claiming one by the wall and picking up the uniform that was laying in it. It was black, and warm. You obeyed orders and put it on, and it felt magnificent. 

You felt like a completely different person, and all you’d done was change your clothes. You knew that you made the right choice for you, you felt it in the way your posture straightened when you wore black. The confidence it gave you.

“Shit, well don’t you look different.” You heard Christina say to Beatrice.

“Yea Beatrice, you look badass.” You added.

“Thanks, and it just Trice now.” She replied.

“Noted.”

You all filed through the hallway, holding the bundle of clothes that belonged to your old faction, the navy fabric that once seemed soft to you now seeming like it was gritty against your skin, like sandpaper. You held it over the fire, the heat being soaked up by your jacket as you let go of the garments in your hand, seeing the orange decorate the blue thread with black and crackling smudges and you were hurried along by the person behind you. 

The crackling of the fire behind you slowly dimmed out as you filed along, leaving the enclosure of the stone tunnels and into an open cafeteria, ripe with conversation and life. The seats were quickly taken up as your newfound comrades found their place, sitting down for their first meal in their new home. 

“C’mon.” Christina said, beckoning you over to a few empty spaces. 

You were about to sit down next to her and Tris when another girl with somewhat interesting hair took your place. Christina and Tris looked silently at you as all the other seats near them were quickly taken. 

“Um, we can sit somewhere else?” Tris said quietly, but you sensed that she only half meant it.

“No, stay, I’ll go sit with the cool kids over there.” You smiled, glancing over to a table on the far end of the room. 

Tris and Christina both shot you an apologetic look, swiftly turning back to their own table as you sighed, slowly making your way over to the space that you had your eye on. 

You sat down, taking a hamburger from the plate in the middle and dumping it onto your plate. It tasted the same as every other burger you'd ever eaten, though you weren't sure why you were expecting anything different. 

As you were eating someone sat opposite you, obviously used to eating alone judging by the way that he stared at the table in front of him vacantly, not even attempting a conversation. You respected the fact that he obviously wasn't looking for attention and mirrored him, focusing your attention on the table as you kept yourself to yourself. 

You heard an indistinct mumble from the man in front of you, paying no attention to it as you assumed it was directed at someone else.

“Hey, newbie, I asked you a question.”    
  
You looked up when you realised that he was talking to you, making eye contact with the man that you knew to be Eric, the same man who coaxed you off the ledge of a building and into a shadowy void that very much could lead to inevitable death.

“Oh, uh sorry,” You responded, doing your best to recall what was just said. “What did you say?” 

He clenched his jaw, his eyes somehow becoming even more sullen as he tried not to roll them. “I asked you what faction you were, before you chose Dauntless.”

“Oh,” You were a little surprised that he was concerning himself with your company. “Erudite.”

He scoffed, wrapping one of his built hands around the body of the silver mug in front of him, half bringing it up to his lips. “Me too, though I always found it a little,” He pushed, taking a sip of water, his eyes still lingering on you from behind the mug. “Suffocating.” 

“Yeah, the only real lesson i learned was that avoiding mirrors makes you a good person, apparently.” You joked, taking another bite of your food. You could've sworn that you saw a twinge of a smile surface from beneath the stone-cold grimace of the man in front of you, though you doubted it.

“Well, at Dauntless we value bravery.” He stated bluntly. “So stare at yourself as long as you want.” 

You hummed a response, taking a sip of your water that tasted how it always did, watery. Again, you don't know why but you were expecting at least some sort of change. 

You could see that he was about to say something else, when the clank of metal against metal started buzzing round, the people around you slamming their cups down on the tables as a man standing on the balcony above you watched. You followed Eric's eyes to him, watching as he began to speak. 

“Initiates stand.” You saw around you the other initiates standing as commanded, and you followed suit, setting down your mug and standing. “You have chosen to join the warrior faction, tasked with the defence of this city and all its inhabitants. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, and the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.” He spoke firmly and loudly, and you saw the attention that everyone seemed to owe him. It was admirable, and you were slightly envious. “Respect that. Do us proud.”

The crowd cheered, and you joined in, clapping as the man on the balcony backed out of sight. You saw some of the other new initiates being hoisted up by the crowd and carried around, passed over head as they reveled in the new-found glory of their new faction. 

You considered, for a moment, joining them, but decided to stay on the outskirts of the crowd where you were, opting to finish your meal.

You sat back down, turning back to your food.

“Not joining them?” Eric said, cocking an eyebrow, which was perhaps the most emotion that you'd seen him show thus far.

“I’d rather finish eating.” 

His eyes lingered on you for a second, a breath hitching in your chest as you adjusted to the pressure of his attention. “Clever.” 

You brushed it off, finishing your food as the rest of the crowd settled down again. You noticed some of the crowd beginning to break away, hearing a voice call your name. 

You turned round to see Christina calling you over, standing in a group. “Hey! C’mon!”

You got up, making eye contact with Eric as you did. He nodded at you, and you returned it, though noticing in your peripheral vision that he didn't look away as you left. 

“C’mon.” Christina said as you followed her, Tris and a couple other boys back down the red-lit stairs and into the communal bunk. It was a little less than charming but it was manageable. 

You sat with Chris and Tris, and the two boys with them who turned out to be quite nice, Al and Will, who looked weirdly similar. You talked among you as you sat between a couple of beds, talking about your old factions, what they were like, who you'd left behind, and why you chose Dauntless. More people filed in and the room slowly filled up with groups of initiates, chatter rising up and surrounding you with an excited buzz. 

After a long while of talking, one of your leaders -- four -- clapped his hands together, commanding the attention of everyone in the room. “Lights out.” The lights stayed on, but everyone seemed to understand the sentiment.

You returned to your bed, the one where you changed, and got under the covers. They'd obviously been designed with warmth and functionality in mind instead of comfort, and the one pillow that you'd been given was flat, but you were tired so you appreciated it.

You rolled over, burying your face in the pillow to block out the harsh light and hoped that you'd get used to it over time. 

You fell asleep to the memories of your old life in Erudite, and thoughts of your new one in Dauntless. You were hopeful, optimism seeming to drive your thoughts which surprised you, though you weren't complaining.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> okaaayyyyy so thoughts?? obviously I'm gonna start writing all the good shit in the next chapter but so far


End file.
